Essential Business Outside

The year after college I lived in a small village in Slovakia. One of the best things I feel like I learned or least observed was living with the seasons. In the dead of winter people were at home, tucked up inside with curtains drawn eating lots of cabbage. When Spring started springing though people were OUT in their yards and vegetable patches hoeing the ground, pruning the fruit trees and preparing for the bounty that would grow to feed themselves and also now that I think about it, maybe just for something to do.

Culturally many Slovaks would garden at a family cottage or cabin. These are not (or at least 10 years ago were not) second homes with wifi and all the accouterments of a plush vacation. They were usually pretty spartan, possibly with no running water or even electricity. People went to them especially during the second wave of Communism because it was one of the only things they COULD do- get away to your tiny patch of land somewhere and hopefully grow some pears in peace and quiet. Maybe get a pot of gulaš going over a bon fire and indulge in some slivovitz.

It seems many Americans are experiencing this urge to grow something and improve the yard right now for a lot of the same reasons. For months we’ve been advised or ordered to stay home and that’s not the easiest thing in the world for a culture used to zipping around and being stimulated with activity after activity. Whether reviving the victory garden out of a fear or reality of food insecurity or throwing oneself into gardening just to have something pretty to look at and for the feeling of accomplishment; many of us have directed that need to do towards the yard. In the depths of the Stay at Home order in Colorado I remember seeing a headline stating “There’s Nothing Essential About Mulch” talking about the rush on garden centers within hardware stores. But maybe there is?

My family has been busy in the yard too. Though we planned for improvement and development since before the pandemic working in the yard or just being outside is pretty much what we do now. My husband built a raised bed to cover and hopefully mitigate a former mud pit. We filled it with the partially decomposed mulch of a dead cottonwood we took down a year ago. Our most successful plants in it so far have been pumpkin vines we didn’t even mean to have from last year’s Halloween decorations we threw on the pile to compost.

Some peas have taken off and that’s been a special treat- my fickle toddler refuses to eat most vegetables at the table these days but when we do our rounds inspecting all our plants and their progress I ritualistically pick a pea for him which he eagerly chomps down after saying “thank you garden!” We’re still working on the whole what he can and can’t eat thing. We’re also working on identifying plants. What he can’t say he’s pretty good at pointing at which seems impressive for a two-and-a-half year-old.  I had gotten cocky about how easy it was to grow kale. It was practically effortless at our last house in an established bed left by the former owners, but so far all the greens I’ve tried to plant have been a bust. That onion from the kitchen that was sprouting went nowhere fast once we planted it and there has never been any sign of the carrots.

A few weeks ago I went on a bender and bought a number of plants from a garden center because I’m not so proud I have to start everything from seed and it sure is great to have something beautiful to look at.

Getting the honey suckle in the ground generated something of a marital tiff and opportunity to work on communication. The hot poker for tradition and sentimentality’s sake (my mom had them growing up and there was one at our last house- so now they’re mandatory, right?) is really starting to take off. I see the potted marigolds brighten the otherwise drab and muddy fence line from our bathroom window and the dahlias have suffered extensively due to curious and aggressive toddler fingers. The hummingbird mint looks great and might be the one I’m most excited about. The lavender-which I’m also very excited about-smells wonderful and has somehow managed to avoid being trampled by dog and children alike in its high traffic location. 

As I said outside is just what we do now kind of like those Slovaks I remember watching a decade ago. We’ve had our successes and failures and it’s been an opportunity for all of us to learn because frankly in a lot of ways I have no idea what I’m doing. I like the idea of my kids understanding how food grows and not just taking for granted it appears on grocery store shelves. I need to become more competent in process myself and especially with some of my recent failed efforts I too will have a greater appreciation for the huge bag of carrots I can just buy so easily. We know we have to work on the quality of our soil and realistically that will probably take years. It’s a long-range game, and that seems good for us.

I realize not everyone has the luxury of a yard or space to garden but even if it’s in a pot I think the project of spending the time and effort making something grow is good for all of us, especially right now as some of us are finding ourselves with more time on our hands and possible feelings of helplessness, worthlessness, or boredom. It cultivates knowledge as I’ve said, but also patience, a sense of wonder, accomplishment, community or relationships, and of course sustenance.

So maybe this rush on garden supplies started as a diversion for stir-crazy people used to going more places and doing and buying more things. That’s fine, but I hope the practice takes root (pun intended, are bad mom-jokes a thing?) and especially us Americans see a revival of the kitchen garden and long lasting affinity for growing plants and flowers.